Esteban Ocon is happy to see Fernando Alonso leave Alpine after being "overworked" during their time as teammates.
The pair had a healthy relationship when the two-time world champion joined at the start of 2021 but the Spaniard's frustration built up during this season as poor reliability cost him dearly.
In addition, he and Ocon had several incidents on track, coming to a head in Brazil where the pair touched twice in the early laps of the Sprint race.
"No, not really. I don't need. It's one more race then it's over, finally!" Alonso retorted afterwards on if there needed to be reconciliation. “It has been like this all year."
The fallout led Alpine CEO Laurent Rossi to threaten both drivers with the possibility of being benched for the final race in Abu Dhabi.
That didn't happen but before the race weekend at Yas Marina, Ocon was clearly still unhappy.
"Of course, I was disappointed by that his comments were made in the press and not internally. We didn't have any discussions about any of that. I will keep the respect I have for him," he was quoted by ESPN.
"It's good that he's going to Aston Martin and that we're going our own way. Honestly, the work was 98 per cent on my back and 2 per cent on his.
"I was overworked. I did all the development on the simulator, the marketing trips."
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The fallout isn't exactly the best sign ahead of the arrival of Pierre Gasly, who was a close childhood friend of Ocon before the pair fell out.
However, the Frenchman is eager to welcome the AlphaTauri man to Alpine.
“We have known each other very well for several years,” he said.
“The first time he got into a go-kart, it was mine. We rode together on the same circuits, the same competitions. We had a dream: to drive together in F1, we got there. I can't wait to get started.”
Alpine is also on an upward path after finishing 'best of the rest' in the Constructors' standings in 2022, and Ocon wants that trend to continue into 2023.
“This is the goal to step up, but the gap is huge between fourth and third place. It will take time and we should not underestimate the other teams.”
